Sebastian Vettel believes the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari in the Italian Grand Prix was accentuated by potential damage to his car.

Having started from sixth on the grid, Vettel made his way up to third place behind Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas by the end of the eighth lap, by which time he was over nine seconds off the lead. The German dropped further back as the race went on and came under pressure from Daniel Ricciardo in the closing laps, eventually finishing over half a minute adrift as Hamilton took the championship lead with victory.

"Yeah it was a difficult day, a difficult start," Vettel said. "I didn't straightaway feel the car; I couldn't go with Kimi [Raikkonen] and Valtteri, so I had to wait to make progress. Then my race was fairly isolated. We tried to keep as close as possible but we simply didn't have the pace. I'm sure there are plenty of reasons, but I don't want to get too technical today.

"The last 20 laps I was struggling. I went off in Turn 1 and I think something broke in the car. The left-hand side of the steering was a bit down and I couldn't trust the car, especially on braking and it's a braking track. So the last laps I don't think they showed the pace we could have gone. Overall you could say it was a bad day, but I know the team is on the right way and there is a lot of stuff that is going to improve.

"Overall, it has been amazing so far to see where we are but I know that we only get stronger, so I'm in a very, very positive mood, despite the number and all that. I am not worried about these... overall, it was a difficult weekend but I know that there is still a long way to go and we have got the people behind us so it is a great feeling."

Having said there was more to come from Ferrari following Friday's practice sessions, Vettel suggests the wet weather on Saturday prevented further improvements but conceded Mercedes was not within reach on race pace.

"Monza is specific. I've had races here... simply the fact how confident you feel in the car can make a big difference. I wouldn't say I don't trust my car or don't trust our car but I think this weekend has been a bit up-and-down.

"Practice, for sure there were a couple of things on the list that we would like to try but didn't get the chance but I'm sure that's the same for everyone. I had a good feeling on Friday. The long run was a bit scrappy because of traffic but in terms of raw pace, the Mercedes looked very strong. They confirmed that [in the race].

"I think it got a bit closer with worn tires towards the end, second stint, I think you cannot judge. We were running on our own, they were probably just cruising – because no pressure from behind. So you can't read the whole race but overall you need to be fair and say that they did the better job and they deserved to win – no doubt about that – but I think considering the day yesterday and where we started from, I think it was the optimum result."